Whitmer and The Dems Give You A Tax Increase For Christmas, And A Mioney Giveaway Too

That sucking sound you just heard is $700 million in taxes being pulled out of your wallets for more Democrat government spending.

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan's income tax rate can rise in 2024, judge says

A Court of Claims judge this week dismissed a lawsuit from Republican state lawmakers and business advocacy groups asking that the default income tax rate in Michigan remain at 4.05% instead of 4.25%.

Barring a successful appeal, that likely clears the way for the state's income tax rate to return to 4.25% for the 2024 tax year, a change expected to bring about $700 million more into Michigan's general revenue fund.

That was Judge Elizabeth Gleicher, who tends to rule for the Dems,  and here she nullified one of the words in the statute, making the tax decrease for one year only rather than it properly being the baseline under the law subject to being raised by further legislation.

But not to worry, that revenue will be used to bribe you to buy electric cars and to benefit Democrat-supporting unions in this state:

Yahoo News: Michiganders could save up to $2,500 on a new car under Whitmer rebate proposal

Whitmer's latest proposal for a state tax rebate lowers cost based on the type of vehicle purchased:

• $2,500 for a new battery electric or hybrid vehicle made in a unionized facility

• $2,000 for a new battery electric or hybrid vehicle made in a non-unionized facility

• $1,500 for a new internal combustion vehicle made in a unionized facility

• $1,000 for a new internal combustion vehicle made in a non-unionized facility

So a nice boost to push people to buy union-made cars, and electric ones as well, and a rebate to new car buyers at the expense of, and paid for, by everyone else in this state that likely would have preferred top keep their money in their pocket rather than for these Democrat-agenda-driven rebates.

A $700 million tax increase is quite the Grinch move there.

Apparently, It Does Take Someone (Or Even Two People) Getting Killed To Be Fired From A Detroit Union Job

The Detroit News:  Detroit bus driver who killed pedestrian downtown fired

A bus driver with a record of a crash per year (unclear if it is all buses or also personal smash-ups) for the last eight years has now finally been fired from Detroit's Department of Transportation after she ran over a pedestrian a few days ago. That latest fatal crash involved running over the pedestrian in a crosswalk right in front of her bus.

One of those eight prior crashes included a fatality in 2015.

That action wasn't taken after a driving record of 8 crashes until she ran over a person with her bus on camera tells you all you need to know.

They Probably Should Not Have Publicly Admitted That

The University of Michigan Graduate Students Instructors via their Union, are on strike.

A little problem is the strike is illegal.

Even worse, they admit on their union website that the strike is illegal:

Yes. UM is a public university, and it is unlawful for public sector employees to strike in Michigan. In addition, our contract has a “no-strike clause” specifying that we cannot strike. Striking would therefore be a breach of contract and the University could legally discipline or fire us. This was also the situation in our 2020 strike. The question is whether the University would retaliate against workers and the union rather than pay us a living wage. UM is highly unlikely to fire all of its GSIs and GSSAs because of how essential grad workers are to its day-to-day operations (see above). Striking is not a crime. Striking is a civil rather than a criminal offense.

Kinda problematic to publicly announce that you know what you are doing is illegal and a breach of your current contract.

But worry not, their defense seems to be:  They can't fire us all!

UM could legally fire striking workers, and will almost certainly threaten to do so. However, there are a variety of reasons why UM has never fired GSIs/GSSAs in previous GEO strikes (including the 2020 strike), and why no grad worker has lost their place at their university over the past decade of strikes. In addition, we would try to negotiate with the University for a non-retaliation agreement as part of any strike resolution. This is one reason why it is crucially important that we all stay on strike together to ensure all of our collective safety: Without enough strike power, we may not be capable of getting UM to sign a non-retaliation agreement at the end of the strike.

It's a cunning plan Cotton, let's see how it works out for them. The Air Traffic Controllers Union would like a word.

Then again, President Ono is no President Reagan, and we have pro-Union Democrats ensconced at every level of government from Ann Arbor up through the state (with Whitmer already publicly supporting the grad students in their illegal strike)  to the feds, so none of them will likely try to enforce the law against public sector strikes, so this tactic may indeed pay off.

Now the Graduate Student Instructors are indeed likely being underpaid, and they can thank their last union bargaining team for that one. 

The rest of their demands are impressive leftist pap - Their top demand: Defunding the Police on campus and exchanging them for unarmed security guards.  Verily, the Leftists have learned nothing and forgotten everything.   

Other demands include not allowing ICE on campus; Abortion rights for grad students - seriously have they forgotten the election results already?;  "Gender affirming care" - by reducing mental assessment of the person, not treating it as a mental illness,  and getting gender dysphoric people onto hormones faster - what could possibly go wrong with that?;  and more.

Most likely these demands will be dropped in return for money or some face-saving statement.

Should the GSIs be paid more? I'd say overall, yes.  

Should they be participating in an illegal strike that they know is illegal that is harming their fellow students and not the University, not to mention making idiotic demands?  No.

Speaking Of Snow Jobs - Gov Half-Whit Pays Off Some Electoral Allies

Ah, election time is coming up, so its time for Democrats to bribe their constituencies, often rather blatantly enough that even the Detroit Free Press notices.

The Detroit Free Press: Union bid won $8M state training grant, despite providing less training at higher cost

The Whitmer administration awarded an $8 million training grant to one of her staunchest union allies, despite the fact a different agency offered to provide lengthier training to more workers for the same price, with greater emphasis on underserved groups such as minorities.

Funny how that works, neh?

No worries though, it's not like she's spending her money to payoff her allies for continued support, she's spending our Michigan tax dollars to do it.

Let's Go Brandon Meme Travels Across The Northern Border

This is rather interesting:

Canadian federal government public servants may no longer send in written form, including email, colloquialisms with double entendres that may be considered "offensive"  and most especially they cannot write: "Let's Go Brandon" which was most specifically called out.

 

Interesting as one must wonder how many Canadian federal government workers  are ticked off enough at the Biden admin over everything from the Us/Canada Border to Keystone, to Afghanistan, to be writing Let's Go Brandon in their missives for this to be an issue that gets into a memo.

Also interesting as how the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the union for the same bureaucrats is, per the letter, fully on board with their members being terminated immediately without recourse for something as simple as a double entendre or Let's Go Brandon.    If I were one of their members, I'd be rather cross at this lack of appropriate representation.

The Kid And The School Bus Driver

So Leah had a recent incident that was rather disheartening.

Two days ago she was getting on the bus leaving school, tripped, and fell on the stairs entering the bus.

As she picked herself back up, the bus driver, the people-person that he is, said "Are You Dumb?"

She was quite simply in her own words mortified.

Understand that this is a kid that breaks the top of the scale on standardized tests - As a 12 year-old she reads at what is at least a 12th grade level and has a vocab to match, with math and all other tested scores in the top percentile. She's also a darn good student, a leader in her class, and not a disciplinary problem at all. To be called dumb was extremely insulting to her. She did not answer back but went and sat down and was upset enough to tell us about it.

This bus driver has been an a-hole for as long as he's been on our route and likely before. He's been sarcastic to the kids, and yelled at all the kids on the bus before for no reason, and while his driving is fine his personality is not exactly suited for the job. Unfortunately there is a shortage of bus drivers and I guess his union keeps him in place as there's been a lot of complaints.

Up until now we just told the kids to ignore it and just put up with it as it tended to be generalized idiocy. But, we decided this was worth complaining over as it had singled her out and embarrassed her for no justified reason, and we contacted the schools vice principal who handles such things.

Wouldn't you know it, but the day before the incident they had installed video and audio equipment on the bus and caught the whole incident.

The audio wasn't perfect but they got the incident and the school transportation administration claim he may have said to her "Are you Done?" rather than dumb, which again is still hardly an appropriate question to someone who just tripped.

So the school has stated they will be handling it, so we'll see what the outcome will be. Considering the presence of video and audio on the buses now, I expect his behavior is going to improve. Otherwise, there will finally be plenty of evidence of his unsuitability to be driving kids around, and maybe it will be enough to amount to cause to replace him with someone better.

A Veritable Rogues Gallery Of Character Witnesses For Embezzler Davis

If you're known by the company you keep, convicted felon Robert Davis should be doing hard time.

Robert Davis, as you may know, is a Detroit Democrat Union activist well known for filing multiple complaints in court any time the union is annoyed about something.  He's also well known for pleading guilty to stealing over $125,00 from the troubled and Democrat-run Highland Park School system.

Now be-clowning themselves with letters to the judge attesting to Davis' good character are such notable Democrat apparatchiks as Geoffrey Fieger, Wayne County Clerk Cathy Garret, and State Rep Philip Cavanagh. They're supporting his attorney's request that Davis  get home release and probation for admittedly stealing over a hundred grand from the poor minority children Democrats always claim to represent. Apparently represent means taking money for the kids and blowing it on personal spending sprees.

Reading the letters, one can clearly see there's no shame in their game, and they seem more upset that he got caught than anything else. 

Most politicians would hate to be associated with known felons, but these are showing quite intimate connections to Davis - including political and fundraising ties.

The Detroit News: Lawyer for Davis seeks probation, home confinement

One can only hope that Judge Tarnow will instead make the sentence appropriate to Davis' brazen theft and breach of the public trust.  Instead of the insane request for probation he should make him an example so that the Democrat Detroit Corruption train finally begins to come to a halt.

Bankrupt Detroit To Give Union Member Employees Raises

The city is not even out of bankruptcy yet, and the contract they've negotiated gives a 5% pay raise on July 1, 2014, a 2.5% bonus in 2015 and then 2.5% increases in 2016, 17and 18.

The Detroit Free Press: Unions, city of Detroit ink 5-year contracts with 4 annual pay raises

In return for the rather impressive raises given the fact that Detroit is after all, bankrupt, the AFSCME will support the "grand bargain" bailout of Detroit.

Wow. Detroiters truly have learned nothing and forgotten nothing.

Aww, UAW Being A Sore Loser

In fine Democrat/Union fashion, if you don't get the result you want, the UAW wants to throw the results out and try again until it does.

The Detroit Free Press: UAW asks labor board for new vote at Volkswagen

The sole reason for the appeal lacks comes down to "Oh Noes, Republicans were against it - publicly!"

Citing public statements by Republican U.S. Sen. Bob Corker and other Tennessee politicians, the UAW asked the National Labor Relations Board to set aside the results and conduct a new election.

. . .

“Senator Corker’s conduct was shameful and undertaken with utter disregard for the rights of the citizens of Tennessee and surrounding states that work at Volkswagen Chattanooga,” the union said in a 58-page document filed Friday. “It is a more than adequate basis for sustaining these objections.”

Wow, so a Republican says its a bad idea for the Union to get its claws into VW and points out there may be consequences and that's disregarding worker's rights? What the UAW thinks the VW workers are too dumb to evaluate the situation for themselves and vote in their own best interest?

Of course, President Obama coming out publicly in favor of the vote is not to be remarked upon as interference.

Man up UAW, you held a vote and lost, suck it up and maybe do a little introspection on how you've become less about the workers and more about self-aggrandizement and promotion for you and the Democrat party.

Apparently while there's no crying in baseball, there is when the UAW loses elections.

Obama Tends To Back The Losing Team

The Detroit News: Aide: Obama endorses UAW bid to organize VW plant

So Obama lets it out that he heavily backs unionizing VW in Tenessee to try and use his influence to push for unionization there, because the UAW has done such good things for the US auto industry, like turning one of the Big three into a Dutch corp or dragging another into bankruptcy. Perhaps and more likely it's just all the good things the UAW has done for the Democrats.

The result just now in the Detroit Free Press: VW workers in Tennessee stun UAW, reject union by 712-626 margin

Ah the famous Obama reverse-Midas touch in action yet again.

The UAW suffered a devastating defeat at Volkswagen’s plant here as workers rejected union representation by a 712-626 margin.

The defeat, which came despite Volkswagen’s neutrality, tarnishes UAW President Bob King’s legacy and could make it next to impossible for the union to extend its reach beyond domestic automakers.

. . .

Even President Barack Obama weighed in Friday, taking aim at Tennessee Republican leaders, including U.S. Sen. Bob Corker and Gov. Bill Haslam, who he said “are more concerned about German shareholders than American workers.”

You know, there's a fine and fitting German word for what I'm feeling at the moment. . . . . Schadenfreude. Sweet, sweet schadenfreude.

Meanwhile In Pennsylvania - Question A Teacher's Liberal Bias, Get Slandered

It used to be liberals were all about "Question Authority".

Now that they are the authority, not so much.

[Josh] Barry, who said he is a registered independent, read the story and then read a list of questions his daughter was required to answer and he immediately determined the assignment was “grossly slanted.”

The worksheet included questions like “To what issue do House Republican leaders insist on tying the federal budget?” and “Whom do you hold most responsible for the government shutdown?”

Barry fired off letters complaining about the assignment to his daughter’s teacher as well as the school board. But a few days later, he was shocked to discover that the head of the local teacher’s union was making calls around town – asking if he was a neo-Nazi.

So this union head is slandering a parent to multiple people with insinuations that he's a neo-Nazi for daring to question the assignment.

There's a rather bizarre aspect to the slanderous, not to mention off-the-wall and inappropriate claim that Barry is a neo-Nazi:

After all Barry is not only Jewish, but is married to a half-black lady. Not your typical neo-Nazi material by any means.

Fox News: Jewish dad questions homework assignment, gets investigated for being a 'neo-Nazi'

Apparently, daring to question liberal orthodoxy in the classroom gets the neo-Nazi card pulled on you in Pennsylvania. Thank goodness they didn't pull out the big guns, like the "Racist" card or even worse the "Tea=Partier" card.

Methinks Cydnee Cohen, the president of the East Pennsboro Education Association owes Mr. Barry one heckuva very public and lengthy apology.

Detroit's Pro-Obama Union Members Suddenly Find Out Obamacare Sucks

Yep, some of the most supportive Obama backers just found out what they get for backing Obama.

The Detroit News: Obamacare haunts Detroit union retirees

Yes, the bankrupt city is throwing workers and retirees onto the exchanges, as the city certainly can't keep them on its gold-plated healthcare plans any longer as it doesn't have the money, and they're not happy about the sticker shock.

The unions are suing to block Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr’s plan to reduce the city’s $180 million retiree health bill by replacing benefit plans for retirees under 65 with a $125 per month stipend to shop for coverage on the Michigan health insurance exchange.

Pensioners aren’t happy, and not just because the federal government can’t tell the state’s Department of Insurance and Financial Services whether anyone has yet been able to sign up on the glitchy state exchange. Michigan retirees will likely face sticker shock on the Obamacare exchange relative to their present plans.

While current coverage promises deductibles as low as $175 with an $825 cap on out-of-pocket costs, the city’s stipend would enable retirees to buy basic bronze or silver plans on the exchange that come with higher deductibles, more cost-sharing, and a narrower choice of doctors. A study of Michigan exchange plan options by the Heritage Foundation also found retirees age 50 will see average premium hikes of 43 percent.

Detroit Unions, you voted for Obama and Obamacare and now you're getting exactly what you wanted, right? Enjoy it.

Michigan RTW - Yes, The Picture Doth Sum it Up

It sums up the victory in Michigan's Right To Work battle rather well:

Posted via permission from Net Right Daily.

Yes, the Dems are still weeping bitter tears. Joining Rochelle Riley is Freep Columnist Brian Dickerson: Brian Dickerson: In absence of grown-ups, legislators acted childishly in right-to-work fiasco.

Dickerson joins the left in its "Heads I win, tails you lose argument":

But Snyder's rationale for embracing right-to-work echoes Stamas' puerile excuse for his party's parliamentary shenanigans: The Democrats, he says, are the ones who started it.

Specifically, Snyder blames the opposition for inciting his own party's spoiled brats by trying to tip the constitutional scales in labor's failure in the Proposal 2 campaign. Never mind that they failed. Because Democrats got too greedy, Snyder says, he had no choice but to indulge the GOP's greed-heads.

It's the logic of the playground, ill-becoming a leader who once aspired to be an honest broker.

Michigan isn't the first arena in which political adversaries have mimicked each other's worst qualities. It's one of history's saddest themes -- the reason ayatollahs and communist revolutionaries end up looking an awful lot like the shahs and czars they've deposed.

A little over-the-top in the rhetoric department now isn't he?

In other words Dickerson expects that the Union overreach in pushing Proposal Two should have had no backlash.

Wrong, Tit-for-Tat is a highly reasonable bargaining strategy, otherwise there is no deterrent for the Democrats next overreach.

Dickerson apparently prefers the Democrat Ratchet Effect technique - Democrat advances can never be halted and if they're defeated its only temporary with no consequences.

No thanks, but keep crying.

Sad Michigan Donkeys

With Governor Snyder having signed the Right To Work legislation, the Democrats are bluer today than usual.

In the Detroit Free Press, one of the saddest donkeys, Rochelle Riley laments that Unions need to remind people what life was like without them as if Right To Work legislation outlaws unions or turns Michigan into a sweatshop state.

Her denial of reality is palpable in the writing:

No, the question is: How is this possible in Michigan?

Michigan, home of the UAW? Michigan, which has more union members than almost any other state? Michigan, arguably the bluest state in America?

Now that Snyder has signed right-to-work and Michigan has become the 24th right-to-work state in America, will it be the domino that causes other states to fall?

Considering unions make up only about 17.5% of Michigan's private workforce, and the unions' overreach and excesses over time, including their push to enshrine unionism in the Michigan Constitution made such reform necessary.

Riley goes on to claim this failure is due to Unions not teaching labor history and then she really falls into the rabbit-hole land of the non-sequitur:

No one marching on government grounds was paying attention to what century this is.

And there is the lesson.

The 1960s and 1970s were fighting for the phone. They both called. They want their culture back. They want their methods of selling the union back. They want the anger and threats and the memory of Vincent Chin to stay in the past.

The 21st Century is calling now, and if the unions don't answer that call with new ideas and a new program, America will become a right-to-work nation by the time Hillary Rodham Clinton completes her second term.

Try to figure out what those paragraphs full of mixed metaphors even mean. Even more hilarious, she expects Hillary Clinton to run and win two terms after the Obama deluge.

Delusions are powerful things indeed, and the blue state model has been run on them for quite some time now.

Oh Noes, Michigan Democrats To Threaten To Commit Suicide Over Right To Work

The Michigan Democrat tantrum over the Right to Work legislation is getting very entertaining.

First we had Gretchen Whitmer trying to get Obama to block funding for the new Bridge to Windsor and regional transit for Detroit - both items that would help Democrat constituencies with jobs and improve the economy. In the case of regional transit that's a Democrat boondoggle that would involve lots of things Democrats love: lots of government spending, unionized drivers and mass transit heavily subsidized by the taxpayer.

Now we have them threatening to hold up progress and state government spending in Detroit: Dems threaten to block arena, Detroit light plans

Democrats — looking for leverage to stop Republican approval today of a right-to-work law — are threatening to derail legislation that could help bring a new Detroit Red Wings arena to downtown Detroit and repair the city's 40,000 broken streetlights.

House Democratic Leader Rich Hammel said Monday his caucus will likely cast "no" votes for the rest of the lame-duck session — which officially ends Dec. 20 — in protest of the right-to-work bills, even if it means hurting Democratic priorities.

Awesome. This Democrat tantrum stops the Michigan government from wasting money on Democrat pet projects - regional transit, public financing of a sports arena, and having the state pay for for streetlights in Detroit.

How is blocking these items a bad thing for Michigan again? Are Democrats going to up the ante by threatening to vote for lower taxes and less government spending?

Right To Work Rocking Michigan, Democrats Go For The Blackmail Option

After the Unions overreached in pushing Proposal 2, the measure to enshrine unions in Michigan's constitution, the payback is both swift and a dog of a female persuasion.

As the law proceeds towards being passed, Union opponents are protesting the legislation allowing for workers to opt out of joining a union, and even planning to sing Christmas-themed protest songs outside the governor's house. Perhaps the song will go: Pay union dues ye faithful, you must always join the union, no right to work, no right to work, dues till the end...

With luck the songfest will end in: On the first day of Christmas, Snyder gave to me, the right to work and be free...

The songfest and protests also highlight the need for Right To Work: If all these union members can take this much time off and the work in their places of employment is still getting done, someone is way overstaffed with Union make-work jobs.

Not to be outdone, East Lansing's own Democrat's Democrat, Gretchen Whitmer is trying to get the Obama administration to threaten a blockade of federal funding for public works projects in Michigan if Right to Work passes:

Mlive.com:

Democrats have asked the White House to get into the act and it has. The President’s press secretary offers that Mr. Obama does not much like Right to Work.

And the senate Democratic leader here discloses the White House has been asked to do a little linkage.

The governor wants federal money for his bridge between Detroit and Windsor and the feds are dangling $25 million or more for a new transit system down Woodward Avenue.

What if the White House strongly hinted the money might remain in Washington, if the governor signed RTW?

Asked if that request has been made, Sen. Gretchen Whitmer says, “Yes.”

“We are hoping that when President Obama comes to Michigan (today), that this is on his radar screen.” After all if Mr. Snyder “doesn’t care about the middle class, why should we be bending over backwards so that this governor is able to deliver on his promises?”

Talk about chopping of your nose to spite your face Senator Whitmer. A helluva lot of that transport money would have gone to middle class workers and indeed union jobs, Right to Work or no Right to Work. Not to mention the resulting bridge would be used by Teamsters and others to ferry trade across it, including UAW-made cars.

Appealing to Obama to harm Michigan's workers and economy in a petulant move should not win you many favors if your supporters had a lick of sense, but then again, as she comes from the academic ivory-tower liberal enclave of East Lansing such concerns of the little people hardly matter to her supporters.

Bring popcorn, the leftist meltdown over Right to Work is going to be fun to watch.

Detroit City Council Saves The Water Department's Horse-Shoer

Not even after a consultant found it was overstaffed by 81% and recommended getting rid of the obsolete positions, work rules and classifications that has a horse-shoer on staff when the department has no horses.

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit City Council declines to vote on water department overhaul

The City Council this morning declined to vote on a controversial contract with a Minneapolis-based consultant proposing a massive overhaul of the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department, including a recommendation to get rid of 81% of its workforce and outsource hundreds of jobs.

The council held a public hearing on the proposal this morning, and opponents including unions, environmental activists and DWSD employees urged the city to reject the plan as an assault on Detroit’s right to determine what’s best for the department and its workers.

“There is nothing wrong with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department that the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department can’t fix,” said Catherine Phillips, a staff representative for American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 25. “I am sick and tired of this ‘sky is falling’ mentality that we’ve had ever since Mayor Dave Bing was elected.”

And of course the usual suspects claimed this was an attempt - by reducing unneeded staff to make it more efficient and functional, to seize Detroit's jewel.

When your City's jewel is a sewage treatment plant.....

“This is nothing but someone trying to grab the biggest asset of the city to benefit their own coffers,” [Council member] Watson said.

Look, when a consultant points out that you're overstaffed by 81% - including a horse-shoer when your department hasn't had horses in decades, you have a problem, and its not with someone trying to steal your jewels, its about facing reality and controlling the cozy union-politician featherbedding relationship that has helped drive Detroit into the ground.

When you have a huge debt, an inefficient workforce and twice the number of employees per gallon that another hotbed of corrupt featherbedding - Chicago - has, well, you're in a bad way.

And the Detroit City Clowncil collectively put its fingers in its ears and said "Nyah, Nyah can't hear you."

That, or they heard the word blacksmith and figured that eliminating a blacksmith position would be racist.

The Detroit Water, Featherbedding, and Corruption Department

The current proposal for dealing with the sewer that the Detroit Water Department has become is to cut 80% of the current employees as surplus to effectively running the department.

The Detroit News: Detroit Water dept. may cut staff 80%

The Detroit Water and Sewerage Department could slash more than 80 percent of its staff over the next five years in a drastic overhaul to cut costs and reduce customers' rate increases.

A consultant hired by the Board of Water Commissioners presented its plan Wednesday with suggested job cuts that even shocked department leaders, who argue change is needed because of soaring personnel and infrastructure costs.

If adopted, the department would go from having 1,978 employees to 374 over the next five years. Another 361 employees would still work for the department but would be outsourced through other companies, according to the proposal. Officials estimate it would save about $139 million a year in personnel costs. Most jobs would be cut through attrition, but officials said layoffs are possible.

The Water department has been under scrutiny for the corruption endemic in the Kwame years, with the head of the water Depratment at the time, Victor Mercado, being indicted for racketeering and extortion, for participating in rigging millions in bids for Water department contracts.

The Union of course is outraged that such cuts might be proposed.

How bad is it? There are 257 different classifications for Detroit Water and Sewer employees. Vodkapundit notes that one of the union employees is classified as a horseshoer - even though the Department has no horses.

Think of the Detroit Water Department as a place for the Detroit and Wayne County politicians (all Democrat, natch) to secure cushy jobs for friends and family and exorbitant bids for their campaign contributors.

Even better, the Department isn't supported solely by Detroit but the Dems got a twofer as they could soak the less Democrat-dominated Suburbs and sucker them into paying yearly double-digit rate increases to cover the overhead of the political corruption they had wrought.

Sweet isn't it, having outsiders, many of them not Democrats, pay for the corruption and upkeep of the patronage, bribery and corruption needed for the Democrat stranglehold on Detroit and Wayne County to be maintained?

If the changes aren't adopted it is forecast that suburb water rates will have to increase on the order of 16-20%.

Just wait until there is an audit of the City of Detroit and its other departments - the results will likely be far, far worse. I half expect they'll find employees classified as buggy-whip makers.

As The Detroit Clownfest Continues, Liberals Rediscover The Contracts Clause....

The contracts clause, long a bugbear of the Left and treated consistently as a nullity by them is suddenly piquing their interest to hold off the appointment of an EFM or permit the consent agreement to go forward:

The Detroit Free Press: Detroit financial crisis: Bing, City Council close to deal but pitfalls loom

U.S. District Judge Arthur Tarnow is to hear arguments in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of unions saying Snyder's pressure on the city to scrap ratified contracts violates federal due-process rights and contract clauses in the federal and state constitutions. The unions are seeking a restraining order against the state and city.

It is interesting to watch liberals suddenly latch onto and invoke parts of the Constitution they've long reviled and treated as a dead letter if it helps their cause.

Meanwhile the city and its more mouthy and insane residents and supposed leaders continue to fiddle and mouth all the standard leftist tropes as the city runs out of money...

If it was Said in Detroit and Neither the Detroit News nor the Free Press Deigns to mention it, was it really spoken?

Labor day wasn't all festivals and family time.

It was also the kickoff of Obama's new re=election campaign and shoring up his unionized labor base.

So at Obama's rally in Detroit who should step up to be his attack dog but Teamsters President James Hoffa:

The Blogprof: Happy Labor Day: Union Boss Jim Hoffa Threatens Tea Party At Taxpayer-Funded Obama Rally

Note the rhetoric:

"President Obama, this is your army we are ready to march lets take these son of a bitches out and give America back to America where we belong. Thank you very much.

Ah, that lovely Democrat ungrammatical and uncivil discourse that we all know and love. You'll note Obama doesn't seem to mind such harsh rhetoric in his presence.

Funnily enough, neither the Detroit News nor the Detroit Free Press deigned mention this part of Hoffa's speech in their initial reports and it took until 4:41 pm today for the Free Press to mention the controversy, and the Detroit News finally added it to a side story.

Funny how that happened.